


Outside the Box

by NeverNothing



Series: kuroken week 2018 [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, Fake/Pretend Relationship, I just love banter, M/M, Other characters appear too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 17:55:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16623695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverNothing/pseuds/NeverNothing
Summary: Day 4 || 14th ||Wrong Number|| Actors/Voice Actors (AU)“As for our promotional plan, we have discussed the details with your management, and we have come to a conclusion: For the process of our movies promotion and an unspecified duration afterwards, you two are dating.”





	Outside the Box

**Author's Note:**

> I did not have the mental capacity to go through this again and I did not have the strength to ask someone to do it in my stead, so I'm sorry for that,, otherwise, please enjoy?

“As for our promotional plan, we have discussed the details with your management, and we have come to a conclusion: For the process of our movies promotion and an unspecified duration afterwards, you two are dating.”

The proposal was not an uncommon one. Two lead actors of a movie being revealed to be dating after the filming, falling for each other during the course of their work together. Portrayed love getting real, it happened and caused enough plausible stirr to support the movie- as long as the relationship was not scandalous.

The two leads of his current project  _ Boxes _ were definitely an attractive choice. 

Him, Kuroo Tetsurou, upcoming actor that had been cast in his first leading role for this movie. He had a decent and steadily growing fan base. His bad-boy imagine added to the charm he emitted.

In his current project he portrayed a young male that was feeling lost and confined by the expectations society put on him. Trying to figure out his place, he has a unique idea that breaks general understanding and he finds himself in a place, where instead of being confined, he finds himself with too much freedom. It was a complex and challenging role. Kuroo had a lot of fun portraying it.

His female partner and fellow lead actress, Haiba Alisa, was already well established in the acting scene despite being only a few years older than him. She started of as a child actress, charming the nation with her mixed blood and big eyes.

She played an uprising journalist that was tasked with covering the development of his character’s idea coming to fruition. Despite not comprehending his motives in the beginning, causing a lot of conflict, along the lines, she grew into a huge support during not only the backlash from society but also for internal struggles. In the end, they got their happy ending together.

Haiba Alisa, however, was not the one sitting next to him in the conference room. Instead, it was Kozume Kenma.

The younger actor played a supporting role in the movie, the journalist’s brother. Bubbly and cheeky, he was entirely different from the Kozume Kenma Kuroo got to know behind the scenes. It was the brother that finally made Alisa’s character change her opinion about the project, so, while not directly involving Kuroo himself, the other still played a vital position.

As far as Kuroo knew, Kozume was a friend of Alisa’s real younger brother and had gotten the role due to her recommendation. Kuroo had never heard of him before their first script reading, but he had to admit- the other could act.

The two of them did not have a lot of scenes together, so it was not like they had spent a lot of time together. To the point that Kuroo had no opinion of him other than his initial “Oh dear god, this guy is really cute.”

And now they wanted them to out themselves in a same sex relationship. In front of the whole nation. 

Considering the theme of their movie, it made sense. It was all about being daring and straight forward for your ideals, standing your place despite the backlash and Tetsurou himself had never been that shy to hide is preferences. That did not mean he flaunted it but he had never denied anything.

Still, it was a dangerous move. There have been copious movements of homosexual rights activism and steadily, the public’s view has been improving but it was still not entirely accepted. Was Kuroo willing to dare it? 

Of course he was.

Exchanging a glance with his fellow actor, he asked, “What’s your opinion on this? As far as I know, you keep quiet about your private life.”

“I’m not famous enough to warrant enough attention anyway,” came the deadpan reply. 

Kuroo levelled him a look and the blond sighed. For now, they were ignoring the executive marketing member, focussing more on their conversation. This was more between what the two of them were comfortable with after all.

“I’d like for my private life to kept private, yes. But I’m also aware that I’m not really in a position to complain. I never went public with my sexuality and I never thought I would. But as long as you’re not going to be a complete douchebag about it, I am going to be fine.”

The raven barely suppressed gaping at the other. “So, you are-?”

“Gay?” Kenma raised an eyebrow. “Yes.” He said with an edge to his voice and stared back at him. “Are you?”

He had never been asked this question so openly. Wonder filled him as he nodded dumbfoundedly. Without his consent, admiration for his fellow actor bloomed in his chest, seated deeply.The way he had challenged the raven to belittle him, how he was not afraid to show who he was. It did not match the picture Kuroo had of the less experienced actor but he appreciated the forwardness. 

Considering the blond with a thoughtful gaze, he came to decision. This could work.

Catching the other’s gaze, Kuroo could tell Kenma had come to the same conclusion. A wide grin curled along his lips as they shared a conspiratorially look. Agreeing to their marketing teams terms, they were in this together now.

 

“How are we going to go about this?”, Kuroo asked his fellow actor, his arms crossed behind his head as they followed the course of the corridor.

The two of them had just gotten out of the long conference. The executive marketing member briefed them on the idea but assured them his team and him would get back to them with a detailed report of what would be expected of them and to what extent they would be allowed to act to their own judgement. Kuroo insisted to handle the situation at their own discretion while being open enough to satisfy the media and cause enough stirr.

The blond on his side shrugged. “I don’t really care, I guess.”

“The ‘neither agree nor disagree’-approach seems fitting, doesn't it? Being obvious about it but never admitting it out loud by ourselves. Let them wreck their brains and leave them wondering.”  Kuroo grinned. He liked the idea of messing with people. “Boyfriend,” he added in afterthought, exchanging another sly grin with his partner.

That is how Kuroo Tetsurou and Kozume Kenma started dating.

 

For the promotion of their movie, they first appearance together was scheduled at the entertainment morning show about two weeks after their decision had fallen. In the meantime, the two actors had met up a couple of times to get to know each other better and to agree on their boundaries. The rest, they decided, was just acting.

Those few times they managed to met up, Kuroo encountered the blond earnestly, wanting to get to know each other on a basic, which, at the same time, was  of unspeakable importance. At this point, they were casual enough with each other to treat them as such, Kuroo was sure.

“Morning,” Kuroo grinned as he slipped into the SUV that was supposed to bring them to the location of the broadcast station. 

Kenma was already sitting inside, absorbed in his phone but he looked up shortly to reply to his greeting with a nod. After greeting his fellow actor’s manager and stylist,  he turned his attention back to the blond.

As expected, his make-up was already done. Professionally applied foundation and in true actor fashion, nothing much was done to contour the rest of him. Staring at his face, Kuroo identified a slight touch of brown eyeshadow that complimented his eyes. 

Those eyes were peering back at him now. “Everything okay?”

Kuroo cleared his throat and leaned back casually. “Yeah, just thought you look good,” he complimented off-handedly.

They had discussed their relationship off camera but had come to no conclusion, so Kuroo just decided to go with a lot of frankness where he would usually hold back.

Mirth was gleaming in Kenma’s eyes as he nudged Kuroo’s arm playfully. He did not seem to mind it. “Save it for later.”

“Don’t worry, I’m definitely planning to.” Grinning cheekily, he was pleased to spy a slight blush on the cheeks of his fellow actor. Suddenly, he was looking forward to their interview even more than before. Stretching with a sigh, he settled in for the drive, Kenma a warm presence at his side.

Arriving at the venue, Kuroo scrambled to leave the car first. Holding the door open, he patiently waited for their support staff to exit the car, too, but even going as far as offering his hand in support when Kenma set his foot outside. Ignoring the slightly annoyed and partly amused expression on the blond’s face, he gripped his wrist loosely and leaned in closer to whisper into his ear, “Let the game begin.”

It was only because Kuroo had been intently staring at the blond that he noticed the shift that followed. The challenge glowed in his eyes, it was a magnetizing sight that made Kuroo stagger.

Brushing beside him, Kenma left him behind with no more words spoken. It was not necessary. The raven chuckled to himself before he surveyed his surroundings and waved to the few assembled fans. He was in no haste to join the rest of the cast, there was still time until their scheduled interview.

Less than an hour later and after another touch-up, Kuroo sat on a slightly uncomfortable creamy couch, Kenma sitting stiffly by his side. It made Kuroo tense, too.

“Are you nervous?” The raven whispered to his fellow actor. Their interviewer had not yet arrived so he assumed it was a decent time to check. Eyeing the stuff, he noticed some cameras were already on, red light indicating it, but as long as no one heard what they said, it would be fine. Better even, it would even help their objective. 

“I’m fine.” Kuroo raised his eyebrow pointedly and Kenma sighed. “I’m not entirely comfortable with meeting people. Especially if I don’t know them.”

Letting his words sink, Kuroo whistled quietly. “That’s quite a profession you picked then.”

Another sigh. “I know. Alisa pulled me into it and then I actually started liking the work. Just everything around it is bothersome.”

The admission startled a laugh out of Kuroo. He appreciated the honesty. “You’ve been doing alright with me, though?,” he asked leisurely.

“I wonder about that, too.” Kenma chuckled.

Kuroo puffed his chest in mock affront, leaning forward. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

Speaking lightly, Kenma was not afraid to face him. “Take it as you’d like.”

“A compliment then.” Kuroo decided. He was relieved to notice his distraction had worked. Kenma seemed more comfortable by his side now.

The sound of a throat clearing beside him made Kuroo’s head shoot up. A young woman was standing by his side. He had not even noticed her walking up to them. “Yachi-san has arrived. We apologize for the delayal but it seems we won’t have the time to go through the interview points again. Following along what has been discussed beforehand should be enough,” the woman explained. A writer, then, Kuroo assumed.

With a nod, Kuroo rose to stand. Kenma, beside him, followed. Their mics were checked again, then turned on, and Yachi Hitoka, a small blond woman wearing a straight skirt with a white blouse decorated with a bi-colored bow. She looked sweet.

“Morning,” he drawled lazily. Smirking at her as he bowed in greeting, he saw Kenma roll his eyes at him in his periphery when he joined him in his bow. They got seated quickly and their interviewer’s eyes shifted quickly, avoiding gazing directly into Kuroo’s face. By now, the camera’s were running and their mic’s picked up every single word they uttered.

He angled his head in question and exchanged a quick look with the blond actor by his side. Had he done anything? 

Kenma snorted, apparently amused by his confusion. He turned to Yachi-san. His voice was pleasantly friendly. Kuroo had never heard him sound like that. Maybe when he was acting. “Don’t worry about him,” he said, “He seems scarier than he is.”

The raven gasped. “Scary?” The blond woman winced so Kuroo retraced his steps quickly. 

Before he could come up with a good explanation or apology, however, Kenma spoke up again. “That’s what you get for looking like that,” he pointed out with a careless gesture of his hand.

“Now, there is no way I can change the way I look, can I?” Kuroo fell easily into the banter.

“Personally, I’d start with doing something about that horrendous hair.” Kenma turned towards him again and raised a hand to finger a streak of his hair by his ear. The closeness caused a minuscule shiver to erupt and he did not try to fight it.  “Why would someone choose to style their hair like that anyway,” the blond continued nonchalantly, but the gleam in his eyes told the fellow actor he had noticed.

“I did not choose this- It’s bed hair, I swear-I told you this before.” He had not.

Surprisingly talkative, Kenma just continued. “I’d just cut of all off.”

“Not my hair. I know it’s troublesome but I can’t go bald now can I?” Kuroo could no longer suppress his amusement, propping his elbow on his knees and cradling his face. His lips were twitching to hide a grin.

The blond young man looked at him like he was actually contemplating the possibility.

“Kenma,” Kuroo whined. “You can’t do this to me. Don’t you think my hair like this is  kind of charming?” Exaggeratedly, he batted his eyelashes at his fellow actor

A giggle interrupted their antics. “You are quite different from what I imagined, Kuroo-san,” Yachi-san commented, her hand obscuring part of her face as she reigned in her laugh.

“Ah, yeah.” The smile on his face bordered on awkward for a short moment before taking its characteristic sly shape. “I get that a lot,” he confirmed, side-eyeing his companion.

Kenma had leaned back again, wordlessly giving the lead to him. Bumping their shoulders, Kuroo turned his attention to their interviewer. This was going well already.

Tension eased, they fell into easy chatter. Talking about their favourite scenes, the most taxing ones to film without spoiling too much actual content and the atmosphere on set.

While they were engaged in conversation, Kuroo made sure to get Kenma to talk, too, which earned him a petulant frown. The raven laughed and scooted a little bit closer, his arm resting on the backrest behind the blond.

They were talking about their co-star, Alisa, when Yachi-san called attention to it. “You two seem close,” she started hesitatingly. Kuroo encouraged her silent question with a nod. “Were there any incidents at set that made you grow closer?”

The blond leaned back, his hair brushing against Kuroo’s arm, telling the raven to answer the question. 

“Any incidents at set?” Kuroo repeated, staring at the distance as if in thought. Then he chuckled, turning to the blonde woman again. “To be completely honest, Kenma and I did not even share that many scenes and we did not mingle a lot on set. At least never alone.” He glanced to his fellow actor as if to confirm his statement.

“You’re on first name basis, still?” Loosely wrapping the arm he had been resting on the back of the couch around Kenma’s shoulders, Kuroo looked down at him.

“Basically everyone on set calls this one by his first name.” As he spoke he playfully nudged Kenma’s cheek, his arm resting heavily on his shoulder. Despite the makeup, his skin felt soft.

“Kuro,” Kenma uttered in warning, deep voice sending shivers along Kuroo’s spine. He grabbed the hand that had been poking his cheek and stared up at him through his eyelashes. Golden eyes told Kuroo he knew exactly what he was doing. The grip on his hand lingered and he made no move to extract himself from the raven’s arm.

Staring blankly, a startled laugh escaped him. “Are you pulling the nickname on me? That’s not playing fair, Kenma,” he drawled.

Chancing a glance at their interviewer, he noticed a shy blush on her face. Yachi-san had was staring at the hand Kuroo rested on Kenma’s shoulder, her eyes wide. Slowly, the raven withdrew his arm from around the other man and settled it on the back rest behind him again. He crossed his legs, appearing entirely relaxed and unbothered, fingers absentmindedly playing with the hair at the nape of the blond’s neck.

“Back to your original question, Yachi-san.” He cleared his throat and the young woman shot up, looking lost for a short moment before collecting herself and nodding to encourage his following statement. “ I don’t think there was a situation on set that made us grew closer but rather the time we spent together off it?”

“Would you care to elaborate that?” Yachi-san asked carefully.

Kuroo shrugged and glanced at Kenma. ”We just went out to get dinner,” the blond actor explained to the other blonde. He was not entirely lying when he said that. When Kuroo came over to discuss the specifics of their  agreemen t, he brought take out with him and they later went for a late cup of coffee. Kuroo doubted someone had recognized them, but the outing alone had been thrilling.

“That reminds me though.” Catching his gaze, Kenma’s eyes were twinkling. He was patting his thigh to defer attention to his raven companion. “Kuro actually cooked for me a few days ago.”

Angling his head, Kuroo thought about the situation the blond could be referring to. There was only one moment that came to mind. He snorted. “You can’t exactly call that cooking.”

He had been making ramen for them. Boiling water and adding the spices as well as a few fresh vegetables he had brought. 

“It’s more than I usually cook, though?”

A displeased frown spread on his face before he was able to suppress the notion. “We really have to work on your eating habits, Kenma. Eating take-out everyday just doesn’t count.” He pointed his finger at him accusingly. “I swear you are the type to just forget to eat if there is no one to remind you.”

The answering silence told him anything he needed to know. He groaned. “Of course. Not on my watch,” he declared.

“Don’t make promises you can’t hold, Kuro. We’re on TV.” There was a lilt in his tone, one that was barely noticeable but resounded in Kuroo’s ears. His index finger was tapping against the raven’s knee again, warmth unexplainably welcome.

“Who says I won’t?” It was a clear challenge and with a huff, Kenma let the topic drop.

For the rest of the interview, Kenma’s hand did not leave it’s place on his thigh, sometimes tapping an idle rhythm. It was incredibly distracting.

The television station aired a short clip picturing the conversation the two actors had been absorbed in before the interview started. It was impossible to tell what they had been talking about, but their body language seemed to make up to it. Paired with the interview, it was no understatement to say the public totally bought it.

Kuroo pointedly decided to ignore the fact that along the way, very early on, he had forgotten to act, his reactions way to genuine, promises meaning real commitments.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! As always, every bit of criticism- even pointing out grammar and typo- is appreciated!
> 
> |[@Twitter](https://twitter.com/nevernothingx3)


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